The most anticipated sports festive – the Olympics is up again. We bet everyone has a game that they are looking forward to the most during the Olympics. However, have you ever wondered how many sports are there in the Olympics? Keep reading to get your wonders solved!

The number of sports in the Olympics can be different for every set of Olympics. First, we’ll have to understand how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) defines sports for Olympics.

The Hierarchy

The IOC recognizes a hierarchy of sports, disciplines, and events.

Sports

According to the IOC, a sport is represented by a single international governing body. For example, the International Swimming Federation represent the “Aquatics” sport. Therefore, all aquatics games are categorized as a type of sport in the Olympics.

Disciplines

Discipline is the game under a type of sports. For instance, swimming,  synchronised swimming, diving and water polo are the disciplines of aquatics sport.  

Events

In the Olympic terms, an event is any competition that has medal awards. For example, a 100m freestyle is an event of the swimming discipline in aquatic sport.

Some sports can also be the discipline

There are some cases where the sports is also the discipline of it. For instance, basketball, badminton, and baseball. These sports are dedicated to one discipline but come with different events too. For example, badminton has the events of men’s double, mix double, women’s single etc.

So how many Olympics sports are there?

The list of sports in the Olympics has changed a lot over history. The number of sports in Olympics is different each year. Originally, there were only 9 sports were contested in the first Olympic Games in 1896. During the course of Olympic history, new sports have been added to the games while some has been dropped. In the 2020 Olympics, there were 33 sports contested. However, the next Olympic Games in Paris 2024 are expected to have 32 sports. The types of sports and even the number of Olympic sports are different for each Olympics.

Here are the 32 sports that we can look forward to in Paris 2024:

1. Aquatics
2. Archery
3. Athletics
4. Badminton
5. Basketball
6. Boxing
7. Breakdancing
8. Canoeing/Kayaking
9. Cycling
10. Equestrian
11. Fencing
12. Football
13. Golf
14. Gymnastics
15. Handball
16. Judo
17. Karate
18. Modern pentathlon
19. Rowing
20. Rugby sevens
21. Sailing
22. Shooting
23. Skateboarding
24. Sport climbing
25. Surfing
26. Table tennis
27. Taekwondo
28. Tennis
29. Triathlon
30. Volleyball
31. Weightlifting
32. Wrestling

With so many changes over the years, the only summer sports that have never been absent from the Olympic program includes:

• Athletics,
• Aquatics (Swimming)
• Cycling
• Fencing
• Gymnastics (Artistic gymnastics)

On the other hand, the only winter sports that were included in all Winter Olympic Games are:

• Skiing (Nordic skiing)
• Skating (Figure skating & speed skating)
• Ice hockey

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